Signwriting in days gone by.

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SIGN-WRITING.

Classic Signwriting.

To the jobbing builder, sign-writing is a most useful adjunct. More than ever before sign-writing has become a means of outdoor publicity. The demand is not seasonal, but endures throughout the year. Sign-writing connected with the building trade includes the writing of fascias, stallplates, name and notice boards, and a host of small but well-paying jobs.
There was a time when so long as a letter was readable it passed. To-day sign-writing has become a busines!!, an art. More, the ambitious writer does not stop at lettering, the reproduction of posters, creation of poster designs--all comes his way..
There is no necessity to be an artist to become a sign-writer. In the same way that practically everybody can learn penmanship, it is possible to obtain a fair mastery of lettering with a brush. The shape, proportion, and arrangement of letters is soon learned, facility with the brush being a matter of practice.
To the builder in a small way the convenience of being able to do ordinary plain lettering is of great value. A painting job, as a shop front, may be completed, except for the lettering, and be held up, awaiting the advent of the sign-writer, who, of course, is busy when the jobbing builder is busy, and who, naturally, gives his best customers the preference. Trestles and boards may be required elsewhere, but they have either to be left awaiting the sign-writer's pleasure, or, if removed, have eventually to be returned, with consequent loss of time and money. The jobbing builder who can do lettering, or has a painter who can, will always be at an advantage, for even if the painter takes slightly longer to do the work, which will be only natural, time, patience, temper, will be saved, and, after all, sign-writing is a painter's job.
Name Boards.
Builder's name boards are frequently conspicuous by their utter absence of distinction. Notice boards convey the informa tion to all and sundry that Blank & Co. are decorators, and etceteras, whatever that may mean; and the manner of its conveyance is the reverse of decorative. Others proclaim. the fact that Green Limited are painters and decorators, and use screwed-on iron letters to do it. Apparently, with all their boasted ability to decorate other people's houses, they do not have a man they dare trust with anything smaller than a stock brush. To a firm doing painting work no name board seems more in keeping than a hand-painted one. Nor is there anything to be gained on the score of legibility or boldness by preferring cast-iron letters to written ones.
Another incongruity is an enamelled iron sign for a builder and decorator. The risk of the board splitting can no longer be used as an excuse, since plywood of great thickness and other suitable sheeting in large sizes is to be had in profusion.
Lettering Plant.
With a little thought and care the entire building plant can be made an effective means of advertisement by sticking to one colour and using the same style of lettering. Boldness should be aimed at, not blatancy, and there is nothing unpleasant even in a combination of black and yellow; it all depends on the tone of the yellow.
Most Useful Letter.
The most useful types of lettering are the plain and legible ones, for example, what is called block and sometimes square lettering (Fig. 14). This type is useful for practically every purpose, and may be narrow, that is, elongated, square, or squat, without marring its effect or legibility. It may, further, be painted thick or thin, may be set close together or spread far apart, be left plain, outlined, shaded, block-shaded, and will look well under practically every treatment.
It is at once the simplest and the most difficult kind of lettering to paint. It will stand no tricks in contour, no flourishes to disguise poor draughtsmanship; its beauty, legibility, depend on strict adherence to certain well-known proportions. It is sometimes drawn to fill a square, but this is not its most agreeable shape; a rectangle in the proportion of three wide
ABCGM NRSW &

FIG. 15.-Roman Lettering.

and four high seems better. Every letter, with the exception of A M V W X Y Z, comes within these proportions. The width of the horizontal strokes will be one-sixth of the height, the upright 8trokes being slightly thicker. An examination of best class lettering will convince the observant that this slight difference in thickness is a practice worth adhering to. The small alphabet, or what printers call lower case, is equally useful. Variations are made in shape of letter" a," though the most usual form is given in the drawing of the complete alphabet.
Boman Lettering.
Ordinary Roman lettering is based on the same proportions as Egyptian or block, the serifs or feet being extra.
Fig. 15 shows some of the more difficult letters.